Meeting Notifications

Meeting notifications are sent to meeting invitees when users schedule a meeting. By default, each notification includes a text notification that users see when they open a meeting notification, and a form-based notification that they see if they click the MeetingPlace tab.

You can customize either or both of these notifications.

To customize the text-based notification, use the information on this page.

Text-Based Meeting Notifications

Text-based meeting notifications are generated by Cisco Unified MeetingPlace for Outlook by using templates that you can customize.

Each template contains tags and text that represent the information that appears in a notification. When a notification is generated, Cisco Unified MeetingPlace for Outlook or the Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Audio Server replaces tags with information about the scheduled meeting, such as the date and time of the meeting, the link that recipients can click to go directly to the web conference, or a toll-free number users can dial to join the voice conference.

Text-based notifications for meetings that are scheduled by using Cisco Unified MeetingPlace for Outlook are generated from a different set of templates than notifications that are scheduled by using Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing or MeetingTime.

Note: Templates for Cisco Unified MeetingPlace for Outlook Release 4.2.5 or earlier are not compatible with the current release of Cisco Unified MeetingPlace for Outlook.

Notification Templates for Meetings Scheduled by Using Cisco Unified MeetingPlace for Outlook

Useful information about the meeting, the scheduler, and the Cisco Unified MeetingPlace system already exists in the Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Audio Server. A list of tags you can use to add this information to your notifications is in Notification Items.

The meeting notification templates are editable Rich Text Formatting (RTF) files that you manually customize by changing tags and text. RTF support allows you to use text formatting like bold, italics, and color in your meeting notifications.

If you change one template, you should evaluate whether or not to change all of the templates your system uses. If your system does not include reservationless or video-conferencing capability, you do not need to customize those templates. Customize both types of templates:

Customizing Notifications of Meetings That Are Scheduled in Other Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Clients

Template files for notifications for meetings scheduled from Web Conferencing or MeetingTime have a .tpl filename extension. Customize these files separately from the files that are used to generate notifications for meetings that are scheduled in Outlook.

You can add tags from the appropriate column in Notification Items to any .tpl template except NotifyCancel.tpl.

You must customize the templates for each language separately.

To Ensure That RTF Notifications Are Sent to Users for Meetings Scheduled in Other Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Clients

Cisco Unified MeetingPlace for Outlook allows your users to receive notifications in RTF format. To ensure that users receive RTF notifications for meetings that are scheduled in clients other than Outlook, do this procedure.

Templates for languages other than English are located in subdirectories based on the language name. Each template must be edited separately for each language.

Using Microsoft WordPad, open the .tpl template file that you want to customize.

Make any modifications by adding or deleting text or tags. This adds or deletes information from the meeting notification.

See Notification Items for a list of available tags. Use the tags that are in the column for .tpl templates.

You can also format text with bold, italics, color, and so on.

Any item that you add will appear in the same location in the meeting notification. Place important information at the top of the template to make it readily accessible to users.

Save the template as an RTF file. Make sure the .tpl filename extension does not change.

If you added a tag that takes its value from information that you must enter into MeetingTime, make sure you have entered that information.

Including Notification Details From MeetingTime: An Example

The following procedure illustrates how you can specify information in MeetingTime and have that information inserted into meeting notifications.

In this example, you enter instructions for how to attend a meeting in to MeetingTime, and Cisco Unified MeetingPlace automatically puts that information into meeting notifications using tags that you include in the templates.

To Include Notification Details From MeetingTime: An Example

Use the procedures on this page to insert the <!--#Cisco AttendMeetingHint --> tags in the templates that you want to customize.

Open MeetingTime and log in to the Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Audio Server.

Double-click the Register Book and click the Configure tab.

In the left side of the window, under Company Specific Information, click Company Information and then click Query.

In the right side of the window, click in the value area of How to Attend Meeting and enter your customized information, such as:

To attend this meeting, call <insert Cisco Unified MeetingPlace phone number> at the time of the meeting and follow the prompts. Refer to the information contained in this notification for meeting details.

When you finish, click OK.

Click Save Changes.

Meeting notifications will now automatically include the How to Attend Meeting information you entered into MeetingTime.

Notification Items

Tags for notifications for meetings that are scheduled in Outlook are similar to but in many cases not identical to the tags that perform the same function in notifications for meetings that are scheduled in Web Conferencing or MeetingTime. The tags are not interchangeable, and you cannot copy and paste tags from an .rtf template to a .tpl template.

Note: The syntax <!--#LATD , used in releases prior to Release 5.4, can be used in place of <!--#Cisco for backward compatibility in tags for .tpl templates.

Unless otherwise noted, these tags draw values from information that meeting schedulers include when they schedule a meeting, or that are automatically generated when a meeting is scheduled.

Where noted, tags pull information from values that you have entered in MeetingTime. If you use one of these tags, make sure you have entered a valid value in MeetingTime. For more information about MeetingTime and the values it holds, see the documentation for Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Audio Server.

Before you add a tag to a template, make sure you have addressed all requirements that appear in the description for that tag.

Table: Notification Items

Name

Tag for Notifications for Meetings That Are Scheduled in Cisco Unified MeetingPlace for Outlook (.rtf Files)

Tag for Notifications for Meetings That Are Scheduled in Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Web Conferencing or MeetingTime (.tpl Files)

Description

This tag is not intended to have a label.

-

<!--#Cisco AttendMeetingHint -->

Inserts any text entered in MeetingTime in How to Attend Meeting.

Scheduler

<!--#Cisco FirstName --> <!--#Cisco LastName -->

<!--#Cisco SchedulerFirstName --> <!--#Cisco SchedulerLastName -->

Inserts the first and last name of the scheduler from the scheduler profile in MeetingTime.

Scheduler with delegate support

<!--#Cisco C_SchedFirstName --> <!--#Cisco C_SchedLastName -->

<!--#Cisco SchedulerFirstName --> <!--#Cisco SchedulerLastName -->

Inserts the first and last name of the meeting owner based on the profile of the meeting owner in MeetingTime.

Scheduler Phone

<!--#Cisco OutdialPhone -->

<!--#Cisco SchedulerTelephoneNum -->

Inserts the phone number of the scheduler from the scheduler profile in MeetingTime.

Scheduler Fax

<!--#Cisco FaxNum -->

<!--#Cisco SchedulerFaxNum -->

Inserts the fax number of the scheduler from the scheduler profile in MeetingTime.

Scheduler E-Mail

<!--#Cisco C_SchedEmailAdd -->

<!--#Cisco SchedulerEmail -->

Inserts the e-mail address of the scheduler from the scheduler profile in MeetingTime.

This tag is not intended to have a label.

-

<!--#Cisco MultiServerHelpText
''This meeting will be held on the following Cisco Unified MeetingPlace systems:''
''Dial the phone number of the system closest to your location. -->

Inserts any text entered in MeetingTime in MultiServerHelpText. The suggested text for this tag is displayed in italics.

This tag only appears in notifications for multiserver meetings. Use this tag in conjunction with the <!--#Cisco ListMultiServers --> tag.

This tag is not intended to have a label.

-

<!--#Cisco ListMultiServers -->

Inserts the name and phone number of the other Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Audio Servers that are involved in the multiserver meeting. This tag should always follow the <!--Cisco MultiServerHelpText--> tag.

Number of ports

<!--#Cisco nLoc -->

<!--#Cisco nLoc -->

Inserts the number of audio ports in a meeting.

Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Phone Number

<!--#Cisco Mtg_TelephoneNum -->

<!--#Cisco Mtg_TelephoneNum -->

Inserts the main meeting access phone number entered in MeetingTime in Main Phone Number.

This tag is not intended to have a label.

<!--#Cisco C_AltPhoneNumName1 --> <!--#Cisco C_AlternatePhoneNum1 -->

<!--#Cisco AltPhoneLabel_1--> <!--#Cisco AltPhone_1-->

Inserts any text that is entered into MeetingTime in the first Label for Notifications and any phone number in 1st Alternate Ph Number.